I have been reading this thread since its inception, and other like it over the past few years, and the same thing seems to bother me. Skipping all politics and religion, the one thing that always comes through to me is the importance of collecting all songs as they are part of a tradition. Doesn't matter what tributary of the moment in time they are sampled, but collectors seem to believe that all these songs have merit, although they may not perform them for a variety of reasons.

I think that's absurd. Some songs are simply bad. Or is that too simple a premise? Why save something from extinction simply because its there? Do you reckon that Bach may have turned out some real clunkers that he didn't intend for posterity? I believe in historical values, but just because a song exists does not make it historically important and often its less than accurate. The very nature of the process, especially before so many were "collected" makes for historical philosophy only.

Spaw